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June 10, 2011

G63: Red Sox 5, Blue Jays 1

An extra two days of rest did Buchholz's back a world of good. "Tonight I wasn't favoring it. I was able to get some good extension on pitches I needed to be extended on. It definitely felt a little different than it has the last couple of starts." (Buchholz did contend with a blister on his right middle finger, which he said felt like a splinter.)

Buchholz pitched seven innings (7-3-1-2-6, 100), before Daniel Bard and Jonathan Papelbon finished up. He retired the first eight Jays, allowed two hits to start the fourth (a sac fly brought in Toronto's lone run). The only other real threat came in the seventh, when a walk, a wild pitch, and Jed Lowrie's second error of the game put runners on first and third with one out. Buchholz struck out pinch-hitter Edwin Encarnacion and got Mike McCoy to foul out to first.

Jacoby Ellsbury went 3-for-5, with a double, and scored three runs. He has hits in 14 of his last 15 games (26-for-64, .406). Ellsbury is hitting .447 in June. He also leads the AL with 21 doubles, and is #1 in stolen bases, #2 in hits (Adrian Gonzalez is #1), #3 in runs scored, #6 in average (.316; Gonzalez is #2 and David Ortiz is #5), #10 in extra-base hits, and #11 in OBP.

After getting good news concerning his right knee, Dustin Pedroia had three singles, a walk, a run, and an RBI. Gonzalez singled and doubled and knocked in two runs (a third scored on a 463 DP), extending his streak of games with at least one RBI to a career-high seven. He has had three previous streaks of six games, including one earlier this year (May 8-14).

The Red Sox (36-26) have the best record in the American League, trailing only the Cardinals (38-26) and Phillies (37-26) in MLB.

Boston is 34-16 (.680) in the eight weeks since its 2-10 start. That's a 110-win pace, and it has been done with very poor performances from one-third of the lineup - Dustin Pedroia (.222/.347/.281 since April 15), J.D. Drew (.221/.331/.361 since April 15), and Jed Lowrie (.237/.295/.336 since April 26) - and some very bad pitching performances from John Lackey and Daisuke Matsuzaka.

Michael Bowden has been called up and Luis Exposito is on his way back to Pawtucket.

Buchholz is pitching for the first time since June 3 because of a sore lower back. He is coming off two rough starts (10.2 IP, 14 H, 8 ER) ...

The Sox have won six straight, 11 of 15 and 22 of 30. ... David Ortiz has hit safely in nine straight at 16 of 34 (.471) with nine extra-base hits and 12 RBIs. ... Jacoby Ellsbury has hit safely in 13 of 14 games at .390 (23 of 59) with eight stolen bases, nine extra-base hits and 10 RBIs. ...

Adrian Gonzalez has driven in at least one run in six consecutive games, matching the longest such streak of his career.

With Derek Jeter 10 hits away from becoming the 28th player in history to reach 3,000 hits, B-Ref has posted a list of the 42 players who have reached base more than 4,000 times. ... Wow, Pete Rose batted 15,861 times, nearly 2,000 more times than the runner-up (Yaz, 13,991).

Dustin Pedroia was not only alert for his knee scope yesterday, he watched it on a television. ...

Jarrod Saltalamacchia looked like a guy who had just spent three days in Vegas and lost all his money. ... Doctors ruled out appendicitis. It could have been food poisoning or some sort of stomach infection. "Now it's working its way around to my throat and ears," he said. Salty said it was "by far the worse" he has ever been sick in his life. ...

Peculiar this 162 game competition is. Sox seem like they could win division by 6-10 games and yet still have many things to overcome/fix. Would like to win by one on last day and be healthy in the field with 3 healthy SP.

Really? I'd like to win by like 15, 20 games and have 5 healthy starting pitchers.

Fair enough. I was just thinking that 6-10 historically is a bit decisive in this division. And unlike most New Englanders I'm a Colts fan in another life/season. Large regular season leads only serve to induce my anxiety not relieve it.

Laura-- its was a NFL reference to Colts/Patriots. Indy usually wins 12 or 13 out of 16, but trails in Championships 3 to 1, having lost to the Pats more than once. Versus is only a click or 2 away from MLB on Slime Warner here in Raleigh. So I can multi-task. You all have MLB in Toronto? Ol' Roy is always a good watch. So are all of your comments always approved by the moderator?

Not at all, Laura. I was up at 7am with the kids and spent the day splashing around the pool with them. I'm hoping to sleep tonight, but that depends on this game, the kids, and how long my wife lets me sleep in tomorrow morning. ;)

The Spiders have, apparently, reverted to their previous season form. Bad timing for us!

There has *definitely* been a rash of TJ surgeries this year. Kinda weird.

Yeah, I knew. Sorry for the misunderstanding, it was a tongue in cheek reference I guess. I know pretty much who's who. I've been enjoying most everyone's writing/perspectives here for a number of years on a number of topics actually. And I'm getting PHL/CHC on MLB in Raleigh. Dont have package so that's what I'm watching. Following Sox on the gameday. Never sad to watch Halladay. Forgive me for assuming you all were psychic.

I'm actually considering getting rid of my cable as I am member of that mythical subset of the populace formerly known as the american middle class. If I didn't have a teenager in high school and if $20 would buy enough gas to get out of the state I'd closely read the FAQs on your other writings. I made $50k in 2002, drew unemployment last year, and made $2000 last month. Oh well, lots of people have it worse. I could be rich, dumb, stupid, and lonely like A Rod

I was looking at some old linescores at Retrosheet recently and was thinking about games in which a team's runs match the number of the inning in which they were scored (2 runs in 2nd, 3 in 3rd, 4 in 4th, etc.).

If I recall, I saw a game where three innings matched (maybe the 1st, 3rd, and 7th!). I wonder if a team has ever had as many as 5 matching innings?

In defense of fans making stupid noises everywhere, depending on where you sit, it can be tough to get a read on where a ball is going. And for some reason, many people do not know to watch the fielders.

They were up 11-2, started the ninth with some guy named Sanitarium or something, then went to Pendleton after the guy gave up 4 straight singles. He walked in a run, and Girardi had seen enough and went to Mo. If he just needed work I'd guess he would have started the 9th.